Fair Warning

I am very pleased at the price point at which I purchased this. At $14 this is one of the finest 180g reissues that I own. This is the first of the VH vinyl reissues that I decided to try and am greatly amazed at the attention detail put into this project. First, the cover sleeve is made with high quality card stock. Next, there is an audiophile vinyl lined white paper sleeve over the record itself, and yet included inside is the extra original inner sleeve as well with all of the liner notes. The vinyl itself is well pressed, high quality and dead quiet. The first 4 Van Halen projects were just fantastic recordings in the first place so the remaster just kicked the clarity up a notch. The drum mix on Alex alone is just incredible and Michael Anthony has never been clearer. As far as Dave, not much changes here, he’s straight down the middle as he should be. But Eddie...we get to hear some actual power amp hum and hiss. Truth is, these recordings were made for analog moments like this. Fair Warning has always been my favorite of all of the VH projects. It’s a little more dark and colorful with no covers. Mean Street is unmatched, Unchained, well it’s Unchained and the songs that follow on both sides are loaded with creativity. It’s classic Van Halen laid down at a time when Rock innovation and creativity were on the rise. A solid piece of music history at a great price...

I'm a sucker. I admit it. Every time one of my favorite bands inevitably puts out a remastered album, I lap it up. And just about every time I'm left with the following thought: I hear absolutely no difference between this and the last issue. Fair Warning is the worst offender of all. I listened to tracks from this 2015 remaster back to back with the 2000 remaster and I hear no difference at all. Its not even louder, which is about the only thing I do notice on other remastered albums. If you're considering this CD, buy just one song instead and listen compared to what you already own. If you think the sound is improved, go for it, but my ears don't.

This is the best hard rock band of all time at their best. Everything about Fair Warning is dark, heavy, and overwhelming. No band this side of Led Zeppelin has ever sounded as effortlessly powerful. And if you like "hits", then So This Is Love, Mean Streets, Hear About It Later, and Unchained fill your bill. As for purchasing, I've never found a CD version that isn't significantly range-restricted, and the remasters are the worst offenders. Get the 1987 US original if you can find it.

Perhaps my favorite Van Halen album.In this exciting episode we find our heroes exploring some new territory. Sadly, the gang didn’t venture into a longer improv section with Hear About It Later. One could’ve added a much lengthier solo to that tune and perhaps VH did in concert. That tune had a lot potential in taking the band in broader directions, but rumor has Diamond Dave didn’t like EVH straying to far from the bands Pop bent.Regardless Fair Warning is a really good album.

The CD is still great music but I am giving it a lower rating as I heard these new re-masters were the best. I am not impressed. It's ok but you can't tell the difference between this copy and others. I have a decent system, nothing expensive but one that has good detail and this CD fell short. Save your money and don't think this one will replace a copy you already have. I won't be wasting my money on replacing any other Van Halen CD's with these newer re-masters.

Fair Warning ranks up there with their best work, for sure. I feel like they kind of went downhill after this one. This one, however, shows the band at their peak, not a weak song here. If you like the first three albums, but don't yet have Fair Warning -- don't hesitate. Get it!

"Fair Warning" is kind of the black sheep album in the Van Halen catalogue. Other than "Unchained" the album did not receive a lot of airplay (at least compared to the band's other Roth era discs) and is probably the least commercial of their late 70's early 80's works. The band took some chances on this one which for me is a good thing. This is also probably the least party / fun oriented album of the Roth years. There was tension within the band by this point and it shows. There are no acoustic guitars to be found here either as the majority of the album is hard and heavy. The first use of keyboards by Eddie can be found here on "Sunday Afternoon In The Park". These would become more and more a part of the Van Halen sound on later albums. The album really starts out strong with "Mean Streets", "Dirty Movies", "Sinners Swing", "Unchained" and "Hear About It Later" all solid tunes. The second half of the album is not quite as good, but still decent. I would probably rate this one as my 3rd favorite of the Roth years. Although it did not spawn a lot of hits and was a commercial disappointment this one is well worth owning for fans of the band.

Sound is lightening times better than the original CD releases. Can't comment on the Warner reissues than came out more recently but it is night and day above the original cd's. I replaced all of them with these reissues. I'm a sound snob too! These sound superb!

Fair Warning is what I'd describe as Van Halen's brilliantly dark flawed masterpiece (we'll get to the flawed bit). One look at Eddie's choice of album cover and you know this isn't going to have an update of "Dance The Night Away".  I bought this album when it was released and was blown away by the approach - although similar to the previous album (Women and Children First) having all original tracks, it was much darker.  The opener "Mean Street" is one of VH's longest numbers (at 5 mins.) - what an intro, with Eddie's guitar tone now razor sharp and David Lee Roth's lyrics as bleak as can be.  "Dirty Movies" is sheer sleaze and "Sinners Swing!" shows why Eddie is the riff and rhythm king.  "Hear About It Later" ended the LP side 1 - with its gentle intro and chorus it comes as quite a surprise after the onslaught but turns out to be only a brief pause in proceedings as side 2 carried on the metal meanness with "Unchained" - Ed's drop D tuning and flangerized (is that a word?) riff dimming the already dark tone even more.  The mood lightens slightly with the reggae-infused "Push Comes To Shove" and more so with "So This Is Love?", a typical VH party number, with great bass from Michael Anthony, Eddie ripping into his solo and a familiar DLR tale of female fancification (not sure if that's a word either!).And now for the flawed bit.  Fair Warning ends with two tracks which are both 2 min numbers - "Sunday Afternoon In The Park" and "One Foot Out The Door".  Van Halen albums had always been short (30 - 33 mins) and this one was no different, but the instrumental "Sunday Afternoon In The Park" is a synthesizer-driven sonic splodge - not somewhere I want to spend a Sunday afternoon (or any afternoon).  Then there's the throwaway "One Foot Out The Door" - apparently they were being rushed to finish the album (which had taken over a week to record!).  Although Eddie's superb extended outro solo comes to the rescue, the damage had been done.  So, for me, there's only 28 mins of worthwhile material here - albeit very worthwhile material.  The album was not as successful commercially as it's predecessors but artistically is arguably the band's best.  No big hit singles this time, although "Unchained" would become a firm live fave. So a flawed masterpiece is how I'd describe it. Arguably Van Halen's finest hour (or half-hour).  VH records always sounded great due to producer Ted Templeman and engineer Donn Landee's skills in the studio but also because they were so short (which suited vinyl) - although they never seemed short to me at the time.  The remaster sounds great - just like the LP and like the rest of the 2000 remaster series it has a 3 page fold-out inlay with the original artwork from the album inner sleeve.  Although sometimes it can be good to have bonus tracks and a booklet with an essay, photos and reviews etc., I'm more than happy to have this 'just as it was' and let the original product do the talking.  It's more than capable.

You can read a lot about the politics within the band at this point in Van Halen's career, but they still made great records together. This album has some fantastic playing, writing and hooks on it. In some ways the cracks in the band that were appearing by then, may have contributed to the slightly aggressive and blistering sound of this album, which makes it so great. "Unchained" is a VH classic and "Mean Street" is arguably some of Eddie's finest playing. One for the collection.

Prior to buying this album (in the remastered form - which is essential), I'd only ever heard Unchained (itself one of VH's best songs). Many reviews had put me off stating this to be a darker album with less party style anthems we/I had become accustomed to. Now I have heard it in its entirety (and this is an album that works better by listening in one sitting than as standalone tracks), it ranks as my joint #1 album by the band (alongside VHII).Every song is a winner. The opening Mean Streets is full of streetwise sass, you can imagine it scoring the opening to a New York Scorsese movie. In fact, where Women & Children First was the soundtrack to many a summer BBQ along the American West Coast in 1980, a year later this soundtracks the dark neon lit underbelly of the East Coast. It is a darker album without a doubt but not darker in a sombre way.It's possibly the most `heavy metal' Van Halen have ever been......And it totally Rocks!

Excellent performance, song writing and production throughout. The band is on fire and there's even a proto-trip hop track thrown in for good measure in the shape of Sunday Afternoon In The Park. DJ Shadow take note! The debut, Van Halen, beats this for sheer impact and 1984 has the best overall selection of songs, but this one wins in the full package stakes. Buy it and unleash the tennis racket!

Excellent album, tunes vary from the bludgeoning Unchained / Mean Street to less heavyweight deliveries, Eddie Van Halens startling guitar work accompanied by a driving rhythm section and Dave Lee Roths charm at the vocal helm ..one of the best rock albums ever ...